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CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


ADDRESS 

BY 

FREDERIC Rf COUDERT, 

BEFORE THE 

CATHOLIC CLUB 

AND THE 

U. S. CATHOLIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Carnegie Hall, October ii, 1892. 




34489 










CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


ADDRESS BY 

FREDERIC R. COUDERT. 


Carnegie Hall, Oct. ii, 1892. 


The early life of Columbus offers a most 
alluring field to the historian of a speculative 
and imaginative turn of mind. The story abounds 
in doubts and rests upon a nice calculation of 
probabilities. The writer must make a free use 
of the potential mode, and may only indulge in 
positive statements with misgivings as to his 
own accuracy. While Homer has been claimed 
by seven different cities, all of them anxious to 
secure the fame of having given him birth, 
Columbus may boast even more. Genoa seems 
to be the first in the race ; to make her claims 
sure a noble Marquis, a few years ago, pointed 

3 


out a venerable structure in which he asserts that 
the great discoverer was born. As nothing can 
be plainer than the fact that the Marquis speaks 
only upon information and belief, no imputation 
upon his veracity is cast by those who name 
other claimants as entitled to the much coveted 
honor. Unless the Genoese champion may 
emulate Pythagoras, who assured his hearers that 
he had been present, in the flesh, centuries be- 
fore, at the siege of Troy, in the person of 
Euphorbus, and proved the assertion by point- 
ing out the shield which he then wore, we require 
other evidence to sustain the Marquis’s assertion. 
If, however, Columbus was not born in Genoa, 
who knows whether his eyes did not first open 
to the light in Corsica ? At least a learned Abbe 
so states, and the town of Calvi has given ear- 
nest of its convictions by erecting a monument 
to assure posterity of the fact and to place it be- 
yond the shadowy regions of historical contro- 
versy. 

If we may without discourtesy venture to dis- 
pute the Abbe and the monument and turn our 
back on Corsica, we shall find Cucaro, Cugureo, 
Piacenza and other towns, rapidly increasing in 
number as time rolls on, to vindicate their 
claims. It is not here necessary, fortunately 
for us, to settle the dispute. The part of wis- 
dom is rather to follow the example of the 


4 


Chicago Fair, and to photograph all the rival 
sites, with generous impartiality and unreser- 
ved confidence in the judgment of the citizen 
who shall undertake to decide the question for 
himself. It is enough to say here that Colum- 
bus, more fortunate than Homer, was certain- 
ly born and lived and died— so far as such men 
as Homer and Columbus ever die. 

So, too, it may be said by hasty and reckless 
writers that Columbus was of Italian descent, 
but even here doubt throttles assertion and 
bids it pause. Is it quite sure that Columbus 
did not owe part, at least, of his daring 
and courage and tenacity to the French 
blood, which, it is stated by some authorities, 
flowed in his veins? Not a mean and 
plebeian blood, but a bluish and gentle fluid, 
that had run in bright channels through the 
bodies of gallant men and fair women. An 
Admiral in the French navy would, according to 
some, be responsible in the far past for the pro- 
pensity, invincible and enduring in Columbus, 
to scour the seas. A clear case of atavism, even 
if the French ancestor was a bold pirate as 
well as a noble Admiral. Again it is our 
good fortune to-night that we need not decide 
the question. But I deem it my duty to warn 
you that no inference unfavorable to this 
theory is to be drawn from the fact that French 

r 

0 




writers lay no stress upon the possible circum 
stance that Columbus may have been warmed 
and invigorated by the same blood as themselves. 

They exhibit a curious apathy and indifference 
in this respect. Do they not pass without no- 
tice and without a proper exhibition of exulta- 
tion, the well ascertained truth that Washington 
himself was one of their kinsmen ? Is it not 
probable that his strong, cold nature was occas- 
ionally warmed up to its boiling point by an 
ebullition wholly French? If the great, strange 
oaths that he swore at Lee on the plains of 
Monmouth had been accurately preserved, they 
might throw some light upon the subject. What 
shall we say of a nation that allows Scotland 
to capture St. Patrick and claim him as her own, 
without regard to the truth of history or the 
probable preferences of the good Saint himself ? 

It is idle to pursue this digression ; it was only 
intended to explain why the possible right of 
Columbus to claim a French ancestry was not 
diminished by the negligence of French writers 1 

of history to uphold it. ] 

Wherever born and from whatever parent 
root he sprang, Columbus was, for the time, a 
well educated man. I am tempted to say a well 
educated gentleman, and upon the whole con- 
clude that this term may be safely adopted, 
although it is a matter of doubt whether his pa- 




6 


rents were of noble rank or simply carders of wool. 
This subject is not one of great importance, how- 
ever, if we adopt the suggestion made by an in- 
genious writer that wool-carding w r as a very re- 
putable business, in which persons of birth and 
education not infrequently engaged, so that the 
two theories may be happily reconciled by the 
conclusion that neither excludes the truth of the 
other. 

To decide where Columbus received his early 
education is comparatively easy. There are but 
two cities seriously claiming the title of peda- 
gogue to the future discoverer. These are 
Genoa and Padua. The strongest argument 
thus far advanced in favor of the latter is to the 
effect that Genoa, being imperfectly equipped 
with educational appliances, he must have im- 
bibed his learning at Paduan fountains. This 
is very much as though one were to say, of any 
learned native of Brooklyn or Philadelphia 
whose Alma Mater was unknown, that he must 
have studied at Columbia College. 

Having thus settled that Columbus was born 
in Italy or Corsica, that he was a descendant of 
P'rench or Italian ancestors, that he was born 
of noble though wool-carding parents, and edu- 
cated at Genoa or Padua, and without attempt- 
ing to fix the date of his birth as utterly beyond 
our ability to establish, the remaining work be- 


7 


fore the student of the great mans life is com- 
paratively easy. The doubts and difficulties 
that beset us are no greater than those that 
arise when we deal with others of the world’s 
great children. We may trace his struggles and 
trials, sympathize with him in the bitterness of 
his disappointments, marvel at the unflinching 
courage and tenacity of his purpose, and follow 
him, almost day by day, from the moment 
when he stepped on his puny caravel to the 
hour of his death. 

It has been the fashion of manv admirers of 

* 

Columbus to look for the elements of a special 
inspiration in his life, labors, and successes. It 
has been assumed by them that his fame would 
be magnified, if he were shown to be the special 
object of a Divine selection for the accomplish- 
ment of great ends. That he was prompted, 
guided, directed and protected by Divine Pro- 
vidence, and that without this aid he would have 
failed in the accomplishment of his purpose is 
merely to state a proposition in which all believ- 
ers in the ever-present influence of a Divine will 
may acquiesce. But there is nothing to 
justify the contention that Columbus, like 
Joan of Arc, was called by an irresistible 
command to perform a task which he was 
not in every way, by nature and education, 
fitted to perform. The little Maid of Orleans, 


8 


who left her peaceful home to save her country, 
with no knowledge of war, no skill in arms, no 
taste for shedding human blood, may well stand 
before posterity and challenge universal homage 
and tender admiration for deeds that exhibit 
the luminous traces of special inspiration. It is 
quite as easy to believe her own pathetic story 
as to account in any other way for the develop- 
ment of the plain, modest, pious, peasant girl 
into a skillful, brave and successful warrior. 
The two cases, of Joan and of Columbus, may 
serve as illustrations of the dividing line be- 
tween that impetus which derives its sole force 
and origin from an unseen and providential cause 
and the natural, logical and expected result of 
genius and courage, working under God’s Provi- 
dence to a definite and well-conceived end. 
Columbus had received the gift of genius, which 
is of itself a sort of inspiration, to accomplish 
great things. Genius is not the result nor crea- 
tion of education, nor the fruit of toil, nor the 
gift of ancestry ; it is a spark that is blown into 
a flame, without the consciousness of its posses- 
sor, and which then lights up the world, for 
good or for evil. Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, 
Mahomet and Napoleon stand apart from the 
rest of the world as men thus gifted. Many 
would add Columbus to the list, although his 


9 


title to be ranked in such company is not uni- 
versally conceded. 

We are naturally disposed, after these 400 
years, looking through the dim veil of commin- 
gled History and Romance, to treat the dis- 
covery of America by Columbus as a marvellous 
and unequaled event, which only a rare com- 
bination of circumstances could produce. It is 
assumed that there was little in the past history 
of the world, or in the knowledge then held by 
learned men, to justify the belief that the ex- 
tremities of the world had not been reached. 
But such delusions cannot withstand a moment’s 
scrutiny. The marvel is, not that the discov- 
ery was made, but that it had not been made 
long before. It was as inevitable that it should 
be effected at an early date as the discovery 
of printing was sure to follow the invention 
of paper. To use a common but expressive 
form of speech — it was in the air. Proof 
abounded that there was an undiscovered land 
far to the West and that a continent, supposed 
to be the continent of Asia, might be directly 
reached by sailing in a westerly direction from 
Europe over the Atlantic. Evidence sufficient 
to convict the strange land of being a reality had 
been repeatedly furnished, in almost conclusive 
form. Navigators driven by storm beyond the 
Azores had found curiously carved woods, mani- 


10 


festly of some other than European origin ; a 
large canoe, capacious enough to hold twenty 
rowers had been picked up at sea and also strange 
trees of a kind unknown to Europeans ; more 
striking than all perhaps, the bodies of men, of 
a dark color, had been thrown up by the sea and 
had shown that somewhere in the West a race of 
human beings would be found, differing in ap- 
pearance from any then known, whether of Eu- 
ropean, Asiatic or African origin. Marco Polo, 
the great traveller, had returned from his explora- 
tions and told strange tales of the countries that 
he had visited, Tartary, India, China ; these were 
supposed to extend as far as the continent now 
known as the continent of America. 

But neither the physical proofs thus furnished 
by flood and tide and storm, nor the narratives 
of travellers, could extirpate the deeply rooted 
prejudices of men and overcome the invincible 
ignorance of the great mass of mankind. 

Men had eyes to see, but the lessons taught 
by the bodies of dead men and strange plants 

and beasts, they could not read. They had ears, 

\ 

but they would not listen to the tale of travellers, 
preferring, as sluggish indolence always does, to 
call them lies and thus end the debate. 

We must remember, however, that the world 
was not plunged in absolute ignorance as to the 
conformation of the earth. The idea that its form 


was spherical was old and accepted by learned 
men. Ptolemy and the geographers of Arabia had 
long taught that the earth was in the form of a 
globe and might be circumnavigated. The load- 
stone and astrolabe had been invented and had 
made navigation comparatively easy and safe. 

Nor was this all. The fact must have been 
known to many that there was a new land to the 
west of Greenland. The hardy Norsemen had 
put their foot upon it five hundred years before 
Columbus turned his back on Palos. They had 
made repeated voyages between Greenland and 
Iceland. Even were we not assured by positive 
proof that such was the fact, we must have 
drawn the conclusion from irresistible evidence. 
The dauntless sailors who left Norway to settle 
in Iceland and from Iceland reached Greenland, 
were not the men to permit the narrow seas to 
separate them from the continent that was within 
easy reach. Even had they been willing to leave 
the neighboring ocean unexplored, some benefi- 
cent storm from the northeast must have forced 
them into a reluctant knowledge of their neigh- 
bors. The distance between Iceland and Green- 
land is 750 miles ; America is but 250 miles from 
Greenland. The old Vikings, who were never 
so thoroughly at home as when they trod the 
deck of a stout ship in a storm, are not open to 
the reproach of having feared to test the myster- 


ies of these unknown waters. The record of 
northern voyages is too well known to leave a 
doubt as to their having been made and having 
resulted in the discovery of America. In the 
year 986, Bjorne Herjwissen saw the land 
which we now call New England. It was origi- 
nally called Vinland on account of the grapes 
that were discovered there and said to produce 
good wine. So satisfactory and complete was the 
evidence of the existence of this remote land, 
that Pope Paschal 11., as early as the year 
1 1 12, appointed Eric Upsi Bishop of Ice- 
land, Greenland and Vinland, and the Bishop, 
it is said, actually visited Vinland in person dur- 
ing the year 1121. While we have no accurate 
data as to the spiritual condition of the new 
diocese, we know that it was extensive enough 
in point of area. It certainly is interesting to 
read that nearly four hundred years before Colum- 
bus and his people undertook to evangelize the 
peaceful inhabitants of the West, the church was 
solicitous enough to send out one of her ser- 

o> 

vants to teach the natives the truths of the Gos- 
pel, and to bring them within the fold. Unfor- 
tunately, the great plague that well nigh de- 
populated Norway put an end for many years to 

schemes of distant philanthropy and foreign 
adventure. 

Nor was Vinland the only section of America 


on which the European had set his foot. “Great 
Ireland ” antedates even these early attempts 
and had long been discovered by men from Ire- 
land when Are Marsen visited that region in 
983. They occupied the country south of the 
Chesapeake Bay, including North and South 
Carolina, Georgia and East Florida. When in 999, 
Gudlief Gudlangson and his sailors were driven 
by storms to America, they landed in an un- 
known region where they were at once met by 
several hundred natives whose language was 
apparently Irish. The methods of these natives 
were not as courteous and civilized as those of 
their modern descendants, for they at once 
seized the foreigners and bound them, thus for- 
cibly signifying their doctrine of home rule 
and their determination to retain the country 
for themselves as the rightful owners thereof. 
They did not harm the unwilling invaders of 
their territory, however, but allowed them to de- 
part unmolested, after signifying with marked 
emphasis that it would not be safe to remain. A 
piece of wise conduct that might have been 
emulated with advantage by the natives who 
afterwards received some of the followers of 
Columbus with open arms. 

From the historical fragments left us it is almost 

<3 

certain that Columbus knew of the existence of 
a continent in the far West. He was by pro- 

14 


fession a geographer and earned his living by 
drawing and selling charts, that were highly 
esteemed for their accuracy. The study of the 
physical world was his favorite pursuit. It is to 
be presumed that he knew of these subjects all 
that the learned men of his day had acquired ; 
with these elements of fact to work upon his 
ingenious mind could reach but one conclusion. 
A strong additional circumstance lends 
weight to these considerations. There is no 
doubt that in or about 1427, Columbus visited 
Iceland, which has been termed the hinge upon 
which the discovery of America turned. There 
he must necessarily have learned something of 
the traditions which preserved the old Norse 
discoveries from oblivion. Can it be supposed 
that he, filled as he was with the ambition of 
making his way to India through undiscovered 
seas, never heard of Vinland nor of the Bishop 
appointed by Paschal ? Then, too, Adam von 
Bremen’s account had been published in 1073, 
if we may speak of publication before the in- 
vention of printing, and perpetuated the brave 
deeds of the Norse navigators. No wonder then 
that Columbus spoke and acted as though he 
knew rather than conjectured, calculated or 
imagined. “When he had formed his theory,” 
says Washington Irving, “it became fixed in his 
mind with singular firmness. He never spoke in 


15 


doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty 
as if his eyes had already seen the promised 
land.” A very probable statement and a very 
natural condition of mind if he had read of the 
Norse discoveries, the Irish settlement, the 
papal appointment of a Bishop to Vinland, and 
was familiar with the household traditions of the 
Norsemen. 

We may then assume the truth of the propo- 
sition that the condition of the public mind was 
such that an attempt to penetrate the mystery 
of the Western seas was inevitable, and the 
further proposition that of all men fitted for the 
task none was more competent than Columbus. 
That he should have become possessed of this 
one fixed, absorbing thought was not strange. 
He was ambitious of honors, title, wealth, power 
and fame ; all these lay on the route to India, 
the land of Solomon’s Mines, the Ophir of 
boundless promise, the undiscovered country 
which held in its bosom treasures vast enough 
to challenge the wildest imagination, to realize 
the wildest dream. 

Why the effort was so long delayed, why Co- 
lumbus himself, eloquent, learned, enthusiastic as 
he was, wore away twenty long years in the vain 
attempt to enlist royal sympathy in favor of his 
scheme, seems difficult to account for, but some 


16 


reasons for the strange lethargy may be ad- 
vanced. 

The natural fear of the Unknown has always 
fed upon a superstitious fear of Providence. 
The Roman poet strongly and beautifully ex- 
pressed it when he condemned the restless spirit 
of men who leaped over the natural bound- 
aries created by Jove — who dared to sail over 
the waters which the Deity had interposed as a 
barrier between dissociated continents and who, 
by their impious disregard of Divine laws, chal- 
lenged Jove’s wrath and never permitted his 
thunders to intermit their destructive bolts. A 
feeling somewhat akin to this still survived and 
was only beginning to yield before a more gen- 
eral diffusion of enlightened views. 

The proposed attempt to brave the horrors of 
the unknown ocean was looked upon by many 
as impious and dangerous, at one and the 
same time. The anger of the sea was less to 
be dreaded than the wrath of its Master. 
Men had been warned by Divine lips that 
they should not tempt the Lord their God ; 
what was this bold venture into the very jaws 
of death but a challenge and a defiance to 
the Almighty ? Scientific reasons were often 
brushed aside even by learned men. Some of 
these, while admitting the rotundity of the 
earth, still urged the rashness of the attempt. 


17 


Grant that the world was round, grant that a 
hardy navigator might sail far into unknown 
regions, the moment would come when the Anti- 
podes being reached, the doomed ship must 
drop from the sea that had thus far sustained 
her weight and, plunging helplessly into infinite 
space, meet a fate as dreadful as it was deserved. 
And if by some strange and hitherto unknown 
physical law, the fated bark still clung to the 
slippery waters, how could it be expected that, 
in defiance of all principles and all rules of phys- 
ics, she would climb back, upon the liquid and 
treacherous hill, to the point whence she had 
started ? Thus, a little knowledge proved a 
dangerous thing ; it gave the objector the pres- 
tige of scientific acquirements in dealing with 
the matter, and he was only the more dangerous 
because he was somewhat less ignorant than his 
followers. 

The arguments from Scripture were especi- 
ally dangerous, and were perhaps the most 
difficult to answer, They came from pious 
and good men, who placed their own nar- 
row interpretation upon isolated passages, and 
gave them a meaning which condemned such at- 
tempts as blasphemous. The prophets and the 
fathers of the Church were freely quoted as being 
conclusively opposed to the plans of Columbus. 
Lactantius was cited as saying that it was the 


1 8 


height of absurdity to pretend that there was 
such a part of the world as the Antipodes were 
supposed to represent, where men walked about 
with their heels in the air and their heads down ; 
where human beings had their feet directly op- 
posite to ours ; where everything was reversed, 
the trees growing with their roots in the air and 
the branches in the ground. No one could deny 
that such propositions were very absurd, and in 
fact incredible, if faith in the Antipodes obliged 
belief in such an upheaval and reversal of phy- 
sical laws. Then, too, it had been said that all 
men came from Adam, which was surely not the 
case if there was another race of men in that 
fabulous country. Finally, some learned doctors, 
applying a figurative test to the exigencies of the 
discussion, cited the passage of the Scriptures 
wherein it is stated that the Lord stretched the 
skies over the land like unto a tent, which was 
clearly impossible if the earth was round. At 
least so they argued, and with no small success. 

Against these and other such adversaries, Co- 
lumbus waged his battle. He was himself a 
pious man, deeply imbued with the doctrines of 
the church. His reply was, therefore, such as a 
devout Christian would venture to offer; it was 
not the sneer of a scoffer, nor the challenge 
of an infidel. He sought to reconcile the 
truths of Scripture with those which he gath- 


*9 


ered from science and experience and to deal 
gently and patiently with ignorance and pre- 
judice, whatever their origin and whatever the 
garb in which they were clothed. He was elo- 
quent, enthusiastic, learned, and skilful in de- 
bate ; but with all these qualities he might have 
failed in his purpose but for the timely aid of 
churchmen whose orthodoxy was beyond dis- 
pute. Diego de Deza, in particular, a Domini- 
can, subsequently • Bishop of Toledo, gave him 
his warm support, and lent the color of religious 
regularity to the advocacy of the new cause. 
Other religious men joined him to overcome the 
opposition that had so bitterly assailed Colum- 
bus and his strange theories ; but even with this 
valuable aid, it was a long and weary contest, 
that wore out the great adventurer’s best days. 
Portugal, Genoa, Spain were each in turn ap- 
pealed to. The confident hope of a result that 
would startle the world and enrich the pro- 
moters of his cause beyond their dreams was 
urged in vain to incredulous ears. Inconceivable 
as was this stubborn resistance to his appeals, it 
baffled him for years, and he would probably 
have ended his days without sight of the prom- 
ised land but for the friend whom a kind Provi- 
dence placed upon his path, when Hope was well 
nigh dead. The prior of the humble convent of 
La Rabida received the weary traveler when his 


20 


fortunes were at their lowest ebb ; his charity re- 
vived the wanderer when with his young son he 
turned his back upon great visions to seek for 
food and shelter. These, with gentle sym- 
pathy, the good prior gave from his heart to 
the baffled and dispirited chart-maker. He 
filled him with new courage, started him afresh 
upon his journey, put money in his purse, fur- 
nished him with letters of commendation to the 
Queen, with fitting garments for one who aspired 
to enter and ask the favor of a Court; and, more 
than all, with the assurance that, be the treat- 
ment of that Court what it might, the door of 
La Rabida was ever open and ready to receive 
its one-time gmest with unfailing- love. Wher- 

o o 

ever the story of Columbus is told, the name of 
Juan Perez should be named with reverence. 
Amid all the vanities and petty ambitions of the 
time and occasion, he stands out almost alone 
as the embodiment of all that is best in human 
nature. No selfish motives tainted his action. 
As has been well and truly said, the prior gave 
Columbus his heart, and, strange to tell, he 
never took it back. 

Thanks to Juan Perez, Columbus had 
audience of the King and Queen, an ad- 
mirably assorted couple for the functions 
in which they were engaged. Ferdinand con- 
tributed the caution, Isabella the liberal 


qualities necessary to govern the country 
over which they ruled. Isabella was ready 
to pawn her jewels for a worthy cause, if funds 
could not otherwise be secured. Ferdinand 
would be sure to enquire whether the venture 
was likely to pay expenses and a profit. Isabella 
alone would have wrecked the treasury with a 
glorious disregard of financial results. Ferdi- 
nand would have conducted the royal business 
by strict rules of arithmetic, unrelieved by gen- 
erous diversions or sentimental deflections, even 
if these were calculated to secure popular ap- 
plause and sympathy. He would never go to 
war for an idea, unless the expulsion of the 
Moors be deemed such a one ; but there was, 
even in that attempt to drive out the unbeliever, 
a practical side. In their dealing with Colum- 
bus, the dual nature of the royal association 
was manifested. Isabella was anxious to plunge 
into the adventure, without reference to the 
terms proposed by Columbus ; Ferdinand de- 
clined to invest his money except upon such 
conditions as would make the risk a reasonable 
one. It must be admitted here that the settle- 
ment of the bargain, for such it was, involved 
no deception or undue advantage on either side. 
Columbus was quite equal to the occasion, and 
quite a match for his kingly patron. He was 
bent on carrying the Faith to the Infidel, of 


22 


bringing unnumbered heathen wretches within 
the pale of the Church ; he was eager to push 
the glory and Empire of Spain to the remotest 
ends of the earth. This was the argument ad 
hominem , or rather ad fozminam , with which he 
mastered the enthusiastic and pious tem- 
perament of Isabella; but Ferdinand was made 
of harder and more practical material. No 
doubt his feelings toward his unknown brethren 
of the remote West were kind enough, but then 
these people were far away and mysterious, 
and it was not possible to say in advance how 
lovable or valuable they would turn out to be. 
Then the greatness of Spain and her glory, 
though dear to the King of Aragon, were expen- 
sive luxuries to sustain and required a surplus 
in the treasury ; glory and a deficit were incom- 
patible and inconsistent adjuncts to his crown. 
But when Columbus told him of the treasures 
that he might secure while he saved the souls of 
the heathen, and put his finger, as it were, on 
Solomon’s mines, while he extended the Castil- 
ian Empire, Ferdinand’s desire for profit was 
quickened into something like sympathy. The 
parties of the first part and of the second part 
being agreed as to the expediency of entering 
into the operation, the party of the third part 
stated his terms. They indicated in clear 
language the determination of the explorer to 


2 3 


realize a full share of the financial benefits likely 
to accrue from the union of the capital to be 
contributed by his associates, and the labor to 
be contributed by himself. He did not betray 
any undue modesty in the statement of his ex- 
pectations. He required the title and privileges 
of an Admiral, the powers and prerogatives of a 
Viceroy, and ten per cent, in perpetuity of the in- 
come to be derived from the new possessions, this 
income to be paid to him and his heirs forever. 

These conditions startled the King, who 
refused to accept them. The titles, no doubt, 
were well enough, and he might consent to en- 
noble the successful adventurer and his remotest 
posterity with lavish profusion, provided the 
commission on the possible revenues were re- 
duced to a reasonable percentage. But ten per 
cent, forever! The royal conscience rebelled at 
such demands ; they far exceeded the limits 
which any subject had a right to touch in nego- 
tiating with his sovereign. The King was firm 
and Columbus obstinate. Isabella was indiffer- 
ent to the business aspect of the affair. Her 
motives were of a higher order, and to carry 
them out she was willing to subscribe to any 
terms that her intended associate saw fit to 
exact. Her Consort was strong enough for 
the time being, however, to carry the day, 
and Columbus, firmly rooted in the com- 


24 


4 


mercial instincts of his Genoese ancestors — 
if they were Genoese — once more turned his 
back on the Court and once more sought the 
society and counsel of his old friend and helper 
the monk of La Rabida. 

But once more, as in the past, the ready hand 
and heart of Juan Perez did their work, and Co- 
lumbus, with renewed courage and hope, started 
to interest the French monarch in his plans. 
Would the latter have been more generous than 
his brother King ? Would he have added the 
percentage in cash to the payment in honors 
and heritable titles ? That question cannot be 
solved. The influence of the good Queen pre- 
vailed, the King relented and signified his assent 
to the demands which he had thus far rejected. 
What influenced him to this change of spirit we 
may only conjecture. Perhaps it was a natural 
inclination to please his gentle wife ; perhaps 
the fear that in striving to save ten per cent, he 
might lose ninety ; perhaps he knew (and he re- 
membered in after days) that agreements be- 
tween King and subject are always open to 
Royal revision and may be read in the right 
spirit, that is as the Royal pleasure may suggest. 
Like the Lion in the fable, the share of the 
Monarch is what he chooses to claim : “ I take 

this,” says the Lion, “ quia nominor Leo, because 

25 


my name is Lion ” — an unanswerable argument, 
from time immemorial. 

Even at this stage of the proceedings the 
current did not flow smoothly. The money, al- 
though promised, shrank timidly from the risks 
which it was to run. Isabella had threatened to 
pawn her jewels, but this sacrifice was not ex- 
acted from her. The brothers Pinzon had be- 
come interested through Juan Perez in the pro- 
posed trip to an unknown world, and, thanks to 
them, the paltry sum was found which made the 
voyage practicable. By virtue of a slight modi- 
fication in the agreement, Columbus was to fur- 
nish one-eighth of the funds, but this he was 
able to do through his new friends. The con- 
tract, when finally reduced to writing, was exe- 
cuted on the 17th April, 1492 ; it was really the 
contract of Isabella of Castile, though signed by 
both Monarchs ; her subjects alone were permit- 
ted to settle in the new country so long as she 
lived. 

Columbus was not compelled to wait un- 
til success had placed the seal on his work to 
receive some of his reward. His name was 
changed from Columbus to Colon ; he was gra- 
ciously permitted to use the prefix Don , and 
his son was allowed to serve as a page to the 
Queen, a privilege which gave him access to the 
society of young people whose blood was blue. 


26 


Thus, to some extent, at least, was he paid in 
advance. Ferdinand was a munificent king in 
the distribution of all those rewards the giving 
of which in no wise diminished the supply at his 
command. 

When Columbus went back to the small mon- 
astery and to the faithful friend who loved him 
still, the good Prior rejoiced as though the vic- 
tory were his and he were to receive large profits 
and brilliant titles. He lent a willing hand to 
the preparations for the great voyage ; he helped 
to smooth over the countless impediments that 
still grew, like rank weeds, in the discoverer’s 
path. Three poor caravels had been found, the 
Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta ; they had 
been made, thanks to the Pinzon advances, fairly 
seaworthy, but when the time came to man them, 
the old terror and superstition threatened de- 
struction to everything. Men would not embark 
on the ill-fated ships, rigged with curses dark as 
those that brought young Lycidas to grief. Sail- 
ors were plenty enough and daring enough, but 
they all wanted to return from any voyage on 
which they started, and how were they ever to 
get back to their own world after they had drop- 
ped into infinite ether, or sailed rapidly down the 
liquid hill ? This difficulty, too, was vanquished. 
The scum of the seafaring population of the 
country was forced into the ships, and with a 


27 


motley crew of bankrupts fleeing from their 
creditors, of criminals fleeing from justice, and 
of adventurers eager to feast their eyes upon 
and to fill their hands with the promised gold, 
the three ships sailed. 

They left Palos on Friday, the third day of 
August, 1492, the good Prior watching from the 
shore to the last, and praying for the friend 
he had served so well. Then commenced 
the weary journey, with its dangers and its 
doubts. A sullen crew, animated by sordid 
motives, and ever ready to visit disappointment 
on its master, mutiny in a chronic state, and a 
strong, brave chief as well-fitted to cope with 
the rebellion of men as he was able to meet the 
hostile fury of the waves. Of him, indeed, it 
might be said that his heart was cased in oak 
and triple brass, as the poet describes the fear- 
less man who first entrusted his life, in a frail 
bark, to the cruel sea. From the first day to 
the last he was undaunted. His assurance of 
ultimate success was such that the belief grows 
upon us when we contemplate it, that he knew 
that the land lay before him, and approximately 
calculated the distance that he would have to 
sail. That he was wrong, in one respect, no 
one doubts ; he expected to find the continent 
of Asia, and found America blocking his way. 
But his confidence can only be explained on the 


28 


theory that he had mastered the facts and was 
serene in consequence of the assurance they 
gave. As to his discontented and mutinous fol- 
lowers, he dealt with them as men of his stamp 
alone can deal. He awed them by his majestic 
bearing ; he encouraged them by his unfailing 
confidence ; he drew upon his vivid imagina- 
tion to depict in glowing words the incalculable 
wealth of the new countries they were about to 
reach. He used the only argument potential with 
them. They wanted gold, gold in abundance, 
without stint, without labor, without hindrance ; 
he promised that they should have it to their 
hearts’ desire. With these promises and some 
deception as to the course that they were daily 
running, he succeeded in keeping them from 
open violence, until they entered upon the pleas- 
ant waters of the South and met unmistakable 
evidences that they were nearing land. Carved 
woods, branches with fresh flowers, the limb of 
a tree, which bore upon its fragile structure a 
bird’s nest, with the mother bird guarding her 
young covey ; these and other signs left no 
doubt in reasonable minds that the land was at 
hand. The balmy sweetness of the air was like 
their own Andalusian spring-time ; they only 
lacked the nightingale, said Columbus. But a 
new panic seized upon the men as confidence 
was beginning to overcome unreasoning fear. 


2 9 


The wind died out, and days passed with noth- 
ing to relieve the anxious monotony that sug- 
gested danger in a new form. What if this 
were a region of endless calm, and they were 
fated to die one by one in their motionless 
ships, the victim of one man’s folly and reck- 
less ambition? He, at least, was a scape-goat, 
and might be offered up as a sacrifice or be 
punished for his crime. But he waited and com- 
pelled their patience until the sluggish winds 
once more filled their sails, and once more the 
men forgot to compass their leader’s death, in 
the hope that they would reach land and for- 
tune together. 

Who first sighted that land is yet a question. 
Columbus, whether he felt himself unable far- 
ther to resist the threats and importunities of 
his crew, or because he had calculated to his 
own satisfaction that he was about to reach his 
goal, solemnly promised that he would turn 
back and sail homeward if land were not seen 
within three days. The mutineers consented to 
this delay, and their murmurs were quieted for 
awhile. On the second day the signs were so 
favorable that the seditious sailors fell upon 
their knees ; they besought their leader for par- 
don, and sang hymns of praise to the kindness 
of the Creator who had brought them so near 
the end of their labors and dangers. A reward 


30 


had been promised to the man who would first 
sight the land. As Columbus, sleepless and 
vigilant, was pacing the deck of the Santa Ma- 
ria, he saw, or thought he saw, a light ; but pre- 
vious disappointments had made him wary. He 
called the attention of two of his fellow-watchers 
to the light that rose and fell ; one of them saw 
it, or thought he saw it, but fearing a new dis- 
appointment, they all remained silent. In the 
early morning, however, the Pinta’s cannon an- 
nounced and truly that land was in view ; this 
was the concerted signal by which the joyful 
news might be loudly proclaimed to all. 

And now we have the culminating point of 
the great explorer’s life. His triumph was with- 
out alloy. It was even greater in appearance 
than in fact. He believed that he had at last 
found the land of promise and of untold wealth, 
and as he left his ship and stepped ashore, clad 
in purple and bearing the insignia of his newly- 
won honors, he might well exult in the fulfill- 
ment of his prophecies and the realization of 
his dreams. He was now entitled, under his 
contract, to the rewards which he coveted ; he 
might now bring the simple and harmless men, 
women and children who met him on the shore 
within the fold of the Church. No misgivings 
entered his mind. The island on which he first 
set his foot must be at the very door of the 

3i 


Indies, and with becoming reverence, he bap- 
tized it in the Saviour’s name, San Salvador. 

Then commenced a series of adventures in 
Dreamland by daylight ; at least such it must 
have seemed to the travellers. The loveliness of 
the skies, the gentleness of the inhabitants, the 
songs of the birds, the pure and balmy atmos- 
phere — above all the confident hope of forth- 
coming gold — were, indeed, such as to fill their 
hearts with joy, and almost to justify the belief 
that the Earthly Paradise had been found. If that 
hope could only be realized, their happiness would 
be complete ; for we cannot close our eyes to the 
fact that whatever Columbus personally may 
have felt, the gentle heathen and his salvation 
were the accessory and not the principal 
subjects of the general solicitude. The feverish 
anxiety to secure the yellow metal of which the 
trinkets w r ere made that adorned the persons of 
the inhabitants, the numerous inquiries as to the 
source whence that metal had been procured, the 
interest exhibited for its acquisition, could not 
but impress the astonished native, who believed 
that Gold was the God of his new visitors. 
Columbus, himself, allowed his great and noble 
purposes to be deferred to satisfying the greed 
of his crew, and with earnest appeals to the 
Almighty, he prayed for instructions that might 
lead him to fortune. “ Our Lord, in whose 


hands are all things, be my help,” he cries. “ Our 
Lord, in his mercy, direct me where I may find 
the gold mine.” They wandered from island to 
island — kidnapping a dozen or two of the 
natives who had never been taught resistance, 
greed or cruelty — in quest of the undiscovered 
treasures. Every point that he touched was, ac- 
cording to Columbus’ narrative, more beautiful 
than all the rest ; in fact he indulges in such wild 
and extravagant expressions of delight, that a 
suspicion is raised (as Prescott has it) that a 
temporary alienation of mind is shown in the let- 
ters which he wrote from Jamaica to the sover- 
eigns. “ Sober narrative and sound reasoning 
were strangely blended with crazy dreams and 
doleful lamentations. Vagaries like these,” adds 
Prescott, “ which came occasionally like clouds 
over his soul to shut out the light of reason, cannot 
fail to fill the mind of the reader, as they doubt- 
less did those of the sovereigns, with mingled 
sentiments of wonder and compassion.” Our 
lamented friend, Dr. Gilmary Shea, has pointed 
out in his work on Columbus, that “ he seems to 
have succeeded in attaching to himself but few 
men who adhered loyally to his cause. Those 
under him were constantly rebellious and muti- 
nous ; those over him found him impracticable. 
To array all these enemies, as inspired by a 


33 


Satanic hostility to a great servant of God, is to 
ask too much of our belief.” 

It would extend this paper far beyond any 
reasonable limit if I sought to enter into anything 
more than a rapid and cursory narrative of the 
four voyages that Columbus made to America 
and thence back to Spain. 

The first was the only one which gave him un- 
mixed glory and happiness. He then touched 
the pinnacle of his fame, and the descent after 
that to ruin and disgrace was as distressing as it 
was rapid. Up to the moment of his death he 
believed that when he set his foot on the soil of 
Cuba he stood on the Continent of Asia. With 
that delusion firm and fixed, he died. At least 
we may assume that it was really entertained by 
him, although the dramatic conditions that accom- 
panied his first declaration of the fact might shake 
our belief in his good faith. One of his first acts 
on taking possession of the island was to impose 
an oath upon his men, making them declare that 
they had reached the coast of Asia. Such an 
exaction seems hardly consistent with entire 
sanity. 

Perhaps nothing can give a better idea of the 
effect produced by these strange sights upon so 
strong an intellect as that of Columbus than the 
fact that he was quite assured that he had seen 
mermaids in these southern waters. The prosaic 


34 


explanation given is that they were probably 
sea calves, and that their heads, when slightly 
lifted above the water, bore a general resemblance 
to the human face. The truth is that everything 
around him was new and mysterious ; there was 
no difficulty in believing that such romantic 
persons lived in the sea. 

Columbus received a right royal reception on 
his return. Both sovereigns rose to receive him 
standing ; and when he stooped to kiss their 
hands, they gently and graciously lifted him and 
bade him sit. Then he told his story, and from 
time to time produced the evidences of his 
veracity. He showed the Indians that he had 
captured, the birds, the skins, the barbaric orna- 
ments and the samples of gold which he had 
brought with him, and when the Te Deum had 
been chanted, he was treated as a royal guest 
and assigned lodgings under the royal roof. 
This period of a few weeks was really the only 
time of unalloyed happiness that Columbus ever 
enjoyed. He was not averse to public scenes 
nor disposed to shrink from the plaudits of an 
admiring multitude ; when he passed among the 
excited throngs his face beamed with content. 
There was no trouble then to find volunteers for 
another transatlantic voyage ; the specimens of 
hard and yellow gold were more eloquent 
than any discourse that had ever been spoken 


35 


by Columbus. The curb became more 
necessary than the spur when the new ex- 
pedition was fitted out. Capital had lost its 
shrinking and sensitive modesty, in view of as- 
sured success. All the ships in the ports of 
Andalusia were placed at Columbus’ disposal 
and he was authorized to compel service from 
those whom he chose to carry with him on his 
expedition. Military stores were abundantly 
provided ; able and intelligent supervisors aided 
him ; among these we find the name of 
Americus Vespucius. 

The conversion of the heathens to Christianity 
was formally declared to be one of the most impor- 
tant objects of the enterprise. The King and 
Queen showed their good faith by designating 
twelve learned priests to accompany the expedi- 
tion; one of them was the apostolical vicar. Isa- 
bella’s kind heart had been moved by the ac- 
counts of the gentleness and simplicity of the 
natives to consider them with tender compassion, 
and to her credit be it said that she strictly en- 
joined that they should be treated with the 
utmost kindness. Columbus was ordered to in- 
flict signal punishment on all Spaniards who 
should be guilty of outrage and injustice to- 
wards them. 

About fifteen hundred men started upon the 
second expedition. They carried with them 

3 6 


9 


goats, sheep, cows and domestic fowls. Once 
more the fleet entered the beautiful regions of 
the South. Porto Rico and other islands were 
visited and taken possession of in the name of 
Spain. The adventurers met the Caribs, who 
were said by Columbus to be very fierce and 
given to eating human flesh. Whether it be 
true that these barbarous people were actual- 
ly addicted to such revolting practices may well 
be doubted. Even Mr. Irving, one of the most 
earnest defenders of Columbus’ fame, ventures 
to question the reliability of these state- 
ments. There is but little to support and much 
to contradict the charge. Hayti was reached 
and visited for the second time. The natives 
had heard of Columbus on his first voyage 
and still entertained a friendly disposition to- 
ward him. They came on board the ship with- 
out hesitation or fear. The Admiral had left 
behind him a colony of men on the former trip, 
and the fortress that he had built was found and 
visited ; nothing remained except vestiges of 
ruin to show where it had stood. It had been 
sacked, burned and utterly destroyed. The 
story was soon told, and there is no reason to 
doubt its substantial truth. While Columbus 
was present he was able to exercise some re- 
straint upon the fierce passions of his men, but 
no sooner had his ship disappeared in the dis- 


37 


tance than the new colonists abandoned them- 
selves to all their brutal instincts. They wan- 
dered uncontrolled among the Indians ; they 
robbed them of their gold, of their homes, of 
everything that was sacred in their domestic re- 
lations. If the Indians did suppose, as has been 
said, that the white men had come down from 
Heaven to visit them, that illusion was soon dis- 
pelled in the wild debauch of unmerciful brutal- 
ity. Even after these four centuries, it is pleas- 
ant to draw a veil upon that scene and many 
others that accompanied the first settlement of 
America. 

We may turn with comfort from this picture 
and contemplate the good and holy men, 
members of the same old faith, who were among 
the first to explore the wilderness of America 
for the heathen’s sake ; the noble martyrs who 
with the staff and the cross, with no hope of re- 
ward except the saving of souls, hungry, worn, 
persecuted and tortured, walked, alone and un- 
guarded, the wilderness of the lake country, 
pushed their way to the Father of Rivers, 
preached the gospel to the savage whom they 
startled by their audacity, shed no blood but 
their own, permitted no torture but of their 
own bodies, pitied all men except themselves, and 
thought every danger and torment a gain if it 
promised honor and glory to their God. If we 

38 


feel at any time disposed unduly to honor Co- 
lumbus the Catholic let us evoke the picture 
of the Jesuit pioneers of the country that he dis- 
covered. The testimony of these martyrs will 
silence History if she exalts him beyond his 
merits. 

The third voyage was another step on the 
downward plane. The machinations of unre- 
lenting enemies produced their bitter fruit. But 
for the faithful brothers Bartholomew and Diego, 
it is not likely that Columbus would have sur- 
vived to see his home once more. The era of 
bloodshed had been opened ; so-called battles 
had been fought, and the natives, by thousands 
upon thousands, were destroyed. Resistance to 
the steel-clad horsemen was out of the question. 
We need not wonder that the stranger, with two 
hundred infantry and twenty horsemen, flanked 
by twenty bloodhounds as fierce as tigers, was 
able to meet and conquer one hundred thousand 
men, nor that the victory of the Spaniards 
was complete, and that the natives were crushed 
beyond hope of redemption ! 

It is pleasing, again, to turn to Isabella, who 
continued to regard these gentle and unoffend- 
ing natives as intrusted by God to her peculiar 
protection. Her disinterested love was not 
turned into avarice, even by a cargo of five hun- 
dred slaves that were sent her. An order 


39 


was issued for their sale, but she countermanded 
it, and directed that the captives should be re- 
turned to their own land. Again she sent a 
special order that the natives should be treated 
with the utmost kindness. But great wrongs 
had been perpetrated before this ineffectual evi- 
dence of a loving heart reached its destination. 

Meanwhile public sentiment was changing as 
to the value of the discovery. The ship loads 
of gold had not come in ; a few cargoes of slaves 
were but a small realization of the brilliant expec- 
tations that had charmed the imagination of 
sovereigns and subjects. Men had come back 
from these transatlantic voyages worn, disabled, 
broken in health and spirit. Extreme measures 
were again necessary to secure crews. Con- 
victed malefactors were offered pardon if they 
would embark for the colonies. The enthusiasm 
had died out ; discouragement and distress had 
set in ; the star of Columbus had grown pale, it 
was soon to emit its last fitful gleam of inter- 
mittent light. 

It was on this third voyage that Columbus, 
for the first time, had a glimpse of the Con- 
tinent which was to be called America. But 
Sebastian Cabot the year before had already 
discovered the continent ; so had Americus Ves- 
pucius. The trip was one of great suffering and 
disappointment. To the mental distress which 


40 


well nig-h overwhelmed him were added the tor 
tures of gout and failing sight; still he did not 
surrender to changing fortune, and with un- 
shaken fortitude he revisited the scenes of his 
first discoveries and touched from time to time 
at new islands. 

While Columbus was absent on his unpromising, 
ill-omened voyage the clamors against him swell- 
ed into a chorus loud- enough to reach the 
Court. Complaints were many, some of them 
perhaps not without foundation. One of his 
chief lieutenants rebelled and entered into open 
conflict with him. In an unguarded moment, 
Columbus requested that an umpire might be 
sent out to decide the question. This was the 
signal for his downfall. Ferdinand sent out an 
umpire in the person of Bobadilla, and the result 
was that Columbus returned home in chains. 

The Queen greeted her old friend with tears 
while he, moved by her compassion and sympa- 
thy, fell upon his knees, weeping convulsively. 
He was old and worn and broken physically ; 
nothing but his lofty spirit had stood the cruel 
tests to which he had been subjected. The ac- 
cusations made by Bobadilla were disregarded. 
Favor and affection were once more lavished 
npon Columbus, and abundant promises made, 
which were never kept. If the account of Las 
Casas be true of the condition of the natives 


4i 




under Bobadilla, the estate of those unfortunate 
people was made worse by the change of 

masters. 

And now preparations were made for a fourth 
voyage. Other courts had been gained by the 
contagion and inoculated with the ambition of 
great adventures. De Gama had doubled the 
Cape of Good Hope, and was enriching Portugal 
with the products of the East. Columbus was to 
start in quest of a strait, supposed to be some- 
where near the Isthmus of Darien and connect- 
ing the two great oceans. After many delays, 
the fleet of four vessels was ready to sail. The 
largest of the caravels was but seventy tons’ 
burden and his whole company amounted to 
one hundred and fifty men. He turned his back 
for the last time upon Spain, an old man, ex- 
hausted with anxiety and trouble, and racked 
with physical sickness. Time and adversity had 
subdued all but the unconquerable will, and once 
more his faithful brother Bartholomew accom- 
panied him to guard, protect and defend him. 

Columbus now visited Honduras and Costa 
Rica. He explored bays on the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama, and found evidence that gold in large 
quantities was to be had in these regions, 
but his shattered health paralyzed all physical 
exertion, while his leaking ships warned him that 


42 


he should hasten to return. He attempted to 
establish a colony on the river Belden, where he 
intended to leave his brother in command 
while he returned to Spain for supplies. 

The fourth voyage ended in almost total dis- 
aster. It was full of disappointment and suffer- 
ing. Cyclones, insurrections, hunger and the 
fear of starvation caused Columbus the deepest 
anxiety. His ships could not be repaired, nor 
could he build new ones. The situation at 
Jamaica became so critical that Columbus was 
constrained to send one of his followers to His- 
paniola, in a canoe, a distance of one hundred 
and twenty miles, to procure relief, for destruc- 
tion waited upon inaction. They dared not start 
upon their return with their decayed and broken 
ships ; the dreary weeks ran into months, every 
day bringing its new weight of woe to the des- 
perate situation. Mutiny was added to the other 
elements of dissolution. Finally, the Indians 
could no longer be forced to bring food from a 
distance and continued to resist until Columbus, 
working upon their superstitious fears, called 
them together and predicted a total eclipse of 
the moon, a sign, he declared, of the Divine 
wrath, which would soon be directed against the 
disobedient natives if they did not at once pro- 
cure supplies. The eclipse came, and the terri- 


43 


fied Indians, in trembling submission, helped 
their persecutors to live. 

Finally, after new mutinies and a pitched bat- 
tle between contending factions of angry Span- 
iards, Columbus left the new world to return to 
Spain. He reached his country a weak and tot- 
tering old man. His faithful friend, the Queen, 
was herself upon her death-bed ; no greeting 
from her, as formerly, warmed the drooping 
spirits of the Admiral. He found his financial 
affairs in the utmost confusion. His great ex- 
pectations of brilliant rewards had never borne 
fruit. Poor as he was when he left Spain in 
August, 1492, he was actually poorer when he 
returned home to die. The royal contract, 
which he had been at such pains to secure, gave 
him no rights that he could enforce. Ferdi- 
nand’s conscience was no longer quickened, his 
generosity no longer stimulated by the presence 
and kindness of his Queen. The pressure upon 
his treasury was great, and the relief which he 
had expected from the promises of Columbus 
had never come. Gold from America he had 
seen, but only in such quantities as to sharpen 
desire, not to satisfy greed. He could not read 
the future, and he did not, therefore, know that 
royal revenues were to flow into the coffers of 
his successors, not so much from the gold mines 
that time would uncover as from the marvellous 


44 


tobacco plant that Columbus had found in Cuba. 
He may have felt that the exactions which he had 
been coerced to accept when the agreement was 
made; had been imposed upon him by a sort of 
duress. At all events, he turned a deaf ear to 
the supplications of his one-time associate, and 
postponed the manifestation of his gratitude un- 
til Columbus was beyond the reach either of his 
favor or his anger. The discoverer was not 
suffering alone from cruel disease, but for lack 
of the actual necessaries of life. “ I live by 
borrowing,” he said ; “ little have I profited by 
twenty years’ service, with such toils and perils, 
since at present I do not own a roof in Spain, 
and for the most time I have not the where- 
withal to pay my bill.” This came from the man 
who had actually sat in the presence of royalty, 
and who had been decorated with the titles of 
Don, of Admiral, and of Viceroy ! These poor 
honors were all he had to leave his children. 
He earnestly besought the king to appoint his 
son Diego to the viceroyalty, of which he had 
been so cruelly deprived. “ This,” he wrote, 
“ is a matter which concerns my honor. Give 
or withhold, as may be most for your interest, 
and I shall be content. I believe the anxiety 
created by the delay of this affair is the princi- 
pal cause of my sickness.” But in spite of this 
care for earthly honors, distinction and titles for 


45 


himself and those that were to follow him, his 
thoughts were turned to greater things. 
Be his weaknesses what they may, an ardent 
love for the Church had been a conspicuous 
feature in his life, in his thoughts, and in his 
acts. The sense of responsibility for all that he 
had done was before him to the end, lightened 
and brightened by a confident hope, frequently 
expressed, that his shortcomings would be mer- 
cifully condoned. His mind turned with pathetic 
affection to the small town of Concepcion, in 
Hispaniola, which he himself had founded, and 
there, on the new land, which could never be 
mentioned except in connection with his own 
fame, he desired that a Chapel should be raised 
where Divine service should be celebrated for his 
benefit and that of all whom he loved 

Death did not take him unawares or unpro- 
vided ; he saw its approach without dismay. In- 
deed, in his straitened and distressed condi- 
tion, Death was the only friend upon whose face 
he could look with anything like hope. Life 
had and could have nothing in store for him but 
sickness and heavier sorrow. His fortunes were 
broken, his glory on the wane, his family poor, 
his body racked by pain. What wonder that 
he should have longed for the hour of departure? 
When the message came, he welcomed it with 
joy. His last words were uttered in Latin : “In 

46 


manus tuas, D omine, commendo spiritum meum." 
Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. 

Then being dead and no longer an obstruction 
in the royal path, or an unpleasant reminder to 
the royal conscience, royalty once more smiled 
upon him. A gorgeous funeral atoned, so far as 
it could, for neglect and injustice. Great honors 
followed his corpse to the church of Santa Maria 
de la Antigua. His enemies were silenced and 
comforted by the reflection that he could no lon- 
ger interfere with their fortunes. The King was 
relieved and promptly placed a glorious seal upon 
the greatest episode of his reign. He was able 
to balance, by posthumous and inexpensive trib- 
utes, the open account pending between himself 
and his late partner. Isabella gone and Colum- 
bus in his grave, the only one of the firm then 
left was Ferdinand. He could wind up the busi- 
ness to suit himself. 

But the remains of Columbus were not per- 
mitted to rest in Spain. Once more, but this 
time in unaccustomed peace, he crossed the At- 
lantic to find a resting place. It is said that his 
body still sleeps in the Cathedral of Havana, on 
that island which he had solemnly declared to be 
part of the continent of Asia. The claim of 
Havana to this honor is disputed, but the evi- 
dence seems to be conclusive, and we may state 
with something like certainty that the great Dis- 


47 


coverer is now resting in the Cathedral of that 
city. 

Columbus, like all conspicuous actors in the 
history of the world, has had his critics and his 
panegyrists. Some have gone to the verge of 
extreme laudation and others have condemned 
him with unsparing severity. History will side 
with neither of these extremists. We may fairly 
judge him by what he did and what he failed to 
do. There is no recorded instance of more ad- 
mirable tenacity of purpose nor of more un- 
flinching devotion to one single idea ; none of 
courage more steadfast in the face of perils of 
every kind. But if we should measure him by 
the standard of to-day, nothing that his modern 
accusers have said in condemnation of many 
acts alleged against him would be too severe, 
but the standard of to-day may not with justice 
be applied to the man who lived four centuries 
ago. 

The accusation against Columbus is the 
traffic in slaves, but this had been and continued 
to be the practice of every nation for centuries 
after him, and of our own country almost to 
our own generation. It may only be said, 
and this means much, that he was better than 
the men who were with him. We may not com- 
pare him to the venerable and humane Las 
Casas, but his name, when placed beside those of 

48 


* 


others who shared or marred his fortunes, will 
shine with a lustre rendered brilliant by compar- 
rison. It is much to say of any man that he 
was better than his day. This can be as- 
serted of Columbus. Personally, he appears to 
have been, in the ordinary relations of life, 
humane and just ; his pursuit of gold was cer- 
tainly, in a great degree, the result of his 
anxiety to satisfy the King. Gold he had 
promised; gold he was bound to furnish, and 
it was the failure to perform this promise 
that poisoned his life, cost him his popularity 
and hastened his death. 

Although the real merit to be attached to his 
discovery is subject to question because he 
started to reach Asia and stumbled upon Amer- 
ica, yet he is entitled to our gratitude for 
the splendid service which he rendered, and to 
be placed on the roll of Humanity’s great ser- 
vants. The obstacles in his wav would have 

✓ 

daunted any man not of heroic mould. If he 
showed an indifference to human life in dealing 
with the natives, we may not forget that life was 
cheap in the 15th century. Tenderness and 
hesitancy to shed a brother’s blood were not in 
the morals and practices of the times, in- 
deed they are not now when Nations undertake 
for their own purposes to impress their civiliza- 
tion on an inferior people. That one of the mo- 


49 


tives which impelled and sustained him through- 
out was the desire to spread the Gospel 
through new lands can scarcely be disputed. 
Whether, after weighing these motives in the 
scales of infallible and eternal Justice, it will 
be found that this was in truth the main- 
spring of his action and the pure fountain of his 
unflinching purpose, or merely incident to a 
personal end, none can decide. I prefer to ac- 
cept and to close with the wise and prudent 
words of the Sovereign Pontiff : 

“ The eminently distinctive point in Columbus 
is that in crossing the immense expanses of the 
ocean, he followed an object more grand and 
more elevated that did the others. Not that he 
failed to be influenced by the very legitimate 
ambition to earn and to merit the approval of 
society, not that he despised the attributes of 
glory, that concomitant of success, whose spurs 
often cut more deeply those greatest among 
men, nor did he disdain entirely the pursuit of 
personal advantages, but above all those human 
considerations soared the leading motive in the 
religion of his forefathers. 

“ Where, indeed, would he have supplied him- 
self with the necessary constancy and strength 
of soul to endure what he had to suffer and sub- 


50 


mit to, had he not drawn upon a motive superior 
to human interests ? Contradicted by the learn- 
ed ; repulsed by princes ; tossed by the tempest 
on the furious ocean ; more than once deprived 
of the use of his eyes by the strain of the long 
and weary watches ; to these must be added the 
combats sustained against the barbarians ; the 
infidelities of his friends and his companions ; the 
villainous plots and conspiracies ; the perfidy of 
the envious ; the calumnies of the traducers, 
and the traps set against his innocence — this 
man must inevitably have succumbed under the 
weight of such great trials, and such numerous 
assaults, had he not been upheld by the con- 
science of his admirable enterprise, in the suc- 
cess of which he foresaw the greater glory of 
the Christian name, and the salvation of an end- 
less multitude.” 


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